Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Most Influencial Churches

A lot of people post these lists and then say that they are not into these kinds of lists. Why not? If you're in a competitive mode then sure these lists can feed your ego if you are on them. But, these lists serve a purpose. I can think of a least 3 here:

They help you look at your own church and see if you are being effective. Unfortunately, many churches don't have a measure to evaluate their effectiveness. This list alone will not do that, but it is a starting point to get an idea of what you or others are doing right so you can keep your focus on the right stuff.

They give you vision for what God can do. All of these big churches were once small ones and many of them experienced enormous growth only in the last 8-15 years. If you think that your church can never grow like that, it would be worth your time to look at some biographical information on these churches. Like #21 New Spring Community Church in Anderson, SC. Where is Anderson, SC?

Finally, lists like this are a great tool for church planters to use to learn what is working? When you see a list of 50 to 100 churches you have a place to start learning. You can visit these churches, read the pastors blogs or join their networks. You probably can't check out all 50 but don't stop with just one. Learn all you can from all you can and you will fill a toolbox that you can go to in your unique situation when you need to.

And don't think that you should measure effectiveness by size. There are lots of big churches that aren't growing or reaching the lost. And all of these big churches were once small churches which means there are some small ones right now that are doing God's work and growing like crazy.

This list is a good one but not my favorite. You might want to look at other lists that measures salvations, baptisms, or churches planted.